The question my wife and field most frequently from expats curious about our choice to move here, after they ask us “why?” is “what is the best business to go into?”

Business, when done smartly, fits the need of its clients by either creating a need through innovation and marketing, or better by supplying what is lacking in said market.

The opportunity in Costa Rica to offer something not offered is far beyond cities in more developed places.

The challenge is discovering what those needs are, and making the supplying of whatever those needs are your new passion, or focusing a passion you already have into a needed widget.

One need only spend a month of time in anywhere Costa Rica to find there are many things people want they cannot get: foods, activities and services.

Here is just a very short list of things done, and some not-yet-done, to whet your appetite and maybe fill a desire for those living here.

If you are the beach sort, or don’t care to live in Jaco where they have both a cinema and a theatre, the abundance of big screen options is wanting.

In the central valley a movie is inexpensive, generally projected in English, and offering most of what is available in Western cities: 3D Experience, Blockbusters, New Releases, and more.

Here in Tamarindo, before our time here, legend tells that there once existed a small outfit that played bigger-screen movies via DVD, but the business did not make it, and the social-movie going experience died with it.

Outside of driving into Liberia, something not easy for many of the car-less residents, there are no options for the big-screen on the gold coast. Who knows?

A drive-in theatre catering to the boomers who spent their youth cramming into car trunks to sneak friends in might just kill it here.

What goes better with a drive-in movie, but Mini-Golf? Too bad somebody already did this here in Tamarindo.

With a growing number of families living and working in the surrounding area, and a lack of wholesome activities found outside the sand trap [the beach] the owners of Bolas Locas dropped in a very hip, alcohol-free, 18-hole Mini-golf course.

It’s a perfect example of doing something that hasn’t been done before, offering something that isn’t available, and hopefully finding success. They have only been opened a few months at this point but everyone I know is pulling for them to make it.

A common conversation between expats and the folks back home, the ones who are planning a visit, is the muling in of various goods.

Sometimes they are talking about electronics, tough to buy or sell here due to high import taxes, but is more like about specialty foods.

Most of what anybody wants in Costa Rica can be found with diligence, especially in the central valley, closer to San Jose.

As one example, living on the gold coast of Guanacaste and finding fennel seeds is about as fruitful as searching fireflies in the daytime.

Looking around is easy enough, there are plenty of places fennel seeds could be sold, but there is no place where the stupid seeds can actually be found.

The list of small-but-critical items for my wife’s cooking seems to be growing daily, and while there are various outlets for specialty items, gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, and organic, no one place around here pulls all specialty items into one roof, saving the weary shopper countless disappointments.

Whether it’s the only mini-golf course for kilometers, the new drive-in cinema, or “Bob’s Specialty Item House,” the list of business ideas is brimming for those with the savvy, the means and the patience to start something up.

Many will come wanting to open a bar on the beach, and some of those people will successfully do it, but the wise will sniff out the endless list of opportunities meeting the needs of those living here, fitting their product to those needs, not the other way around.

Or you could just try and open another stinking bar. We totally need that.

Daily, Damon runs on the beach or works out at Tamarindo Fitness Center, keeping fit by doing a combination of old-school weight lifting, calisthenics, TRX, stability ball work and just about anything he can do to create new and fun exercises. Most recently he is learning to surf.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.